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NOTHING whatever is known of the author of the shortest of all the prophetical books except his name. Obadiah, or, in its older and longer form, Obadiahu, means servant of Jehovah, and seems to have been as common among the Hebrews as Abdallah, a name of kindred formation and meaning, is to-day among the Arabs, for as many as twelve Scriptural persons bear it. The LXX. represent the name by 'Aßdías or 'Oẞdías, the Vulgate by Abdias, Obdias, or Obedia. prophet has been variously identified with Ahab's famous officer (1 Kings xviii. 3), with the Obadiah, Prince of Judah, whom Jehoshaphat sent with Zechariah, Micaiah, and others to teach in the cities of his kingdom (2 Chron. xvii. 7); with the son of Merari, a Levite, noted for his skill in music (2 Chron. xxxiv. 12); with the son of the Shunamite restored to life by Elisha; with the third of the captains sent by Ahaziah to capture Elijah. There is not a shadow of foundation for any one of these guesses, and the patristic tradition assigning him to the tribe of Ephraim, and fixing his abode at Bethachamar (or Bethacaram), in Shechemite territory, is as mythical as his grave pointed out in later times at Sebaste, by the side of those of Elisha and John the Baptist.

The only external guidance of any kind towards fixing even approximately the date of this prophecy is its place in the canon. An attempt at chronological order evidently directed the arrangement of the minor prophets. The discussion of the internal evidence for date and authorship offers a complicated problem, which will be better reserved for an Excursus. With this question must be reserved that of the immediate circumstances arising out of the relations of Israel and Edom, to which the book primarily refers, since it is so closely bound up with it; but the general purport of the prophecy is independent of these.

The long feud between the brother tribes of the Beni-Israel and the descendants of Esau, which began at the birth of the twin ancestors, and continued with varied fortunes down to the extinction of both as distinct nationalities, forms the subject of Obadiah's vision. It is remarkable how large and complete a view we should have into the relations of the two tribes, even if this were the only extant record of them. Not only the close ancestral relationship and the bitterness of the rivalries that had so early divided Edom and Israel, but even the very nature of the desultory and protracted warfare that they waged, the tactics of the wild but wily sons of the desert, the caution with which they moved, the attitude of watchful neutrality they assumed when it suited them, and the skill with which they seized on the moment of Israel's weakness, come clearly into view. We seem even to see the very gestures of the fierce hillmen, and to hear their words of scorn and derision (verses 12, 13). Their cunning diplomacy, overreaching itself, as is so generally the case (verse 7), and their treachery, the more formidable

because of the sagacity for which the tribes of Western Arabia were renowned (verses 14, 8, 9), as well as the unrelenting spirit in which they pursued their object, and the rapacity which followed their victories, are all touched most vividly, though in single words. We are taken also into the mountain home of these warriors, and see them in their rock-hewn dwellings, perched like vultures on their inaccessible cliffs, vaunting their security, their wisdom, and their might (verses 3, 4).

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But this graphic picture of the most virulent of all Israel's foes is not presented in the mere spirit of an enemy and a rival. There was a higher purpose controlling the vision of Obadiah, and in this we see the true motive and power of prophecy, that farstretching, lasting light, by which men behold more than the petty scene around them, a light which spreads over centuries of thought and over the life of nations. He speaks, indeed, exultingly of the destined overthrow of an enemy so bitter; but even in his exultation there is a tone of regret and sadness (see verse 5, Note), equally suggestive, whether it be a touch of the far-off sense of brotherhood with Esau, or a hint of the Divine pity for the sinful and fallen, afterwards to shine forth in the Gospel. Compared with other oracles against Edom, this one bearing Obadiah's name is singularly free from the spirit of unrestrained revenge (compare Obadiah with Isaiah xxxiv. 5, seq., lxii. 1-6; Ps. cxxxvii. 7-9). undercurrent of regretful tenderness has led some commentators to conjecture that the author was himself an Idumæan, but we need no such conjecture. Occupied with larger interests than those of the immediate present, with his prospect widened beyond the horizon of Edom or Israel, though he addressed himself to the children of Jacob and Esau, and pronounced their doom, and consoled the nation they had injured with the promise of deliverance and restoration, the seer was able to rise above mere exultation in present triumph to the thought of the far grander course of events, in which the present fortunes of his own people and their enemies formed only an episode. It is not on Edom only that the Divine justice will assert itself, not for the salvation of Israel alone that the Divine mercy will be displayed. The "Day of the Lord" is seen to be near upon all the heathen, and in the magnificent utterance which concludes the short prophecy, "the kingdom shall be Jehovah's," we catch the promise of a large and far-off Divine event, and recognise the higher purpose by which the Hebrew prophets were gifted to look through the present into the future, from the needs of Israel to those of a world not yet born.

This promise of a widespread dominion has made the Book of Obadiah a favourite study with the Jews. "They read in his words the certainty, not merely of restoration to their own land, and the extension of their dominion over Idumæa and Philistia (see verse 19), but

of the downfall of Christianity, and the conquest by themselves of France and Spain. Naturally we ask for the explanation of so extraordinary an interpretation, and we find that it is a settled principle with the Rabbins that Edom is Rome, and the Edomites all Christians whatsoever. For reasons which will scarcely bear the test of criticism, they believe that Janus, the first King of Latium, was Esau's grandson, and that the Latins were not Trojans, but Idumæans. To the same stock they refer all the early Christians, as if the apostles and first disciples were not Jews, but Edomites; and affirm that when Constantine made the Roman Empire_embrace Christianity, it became Idumæan (Bible Educator, iv. 107). Accepting this as an established principle, the Jews very easily arrive at. the startling conclusions mentioned in the Notes (verses 20-21).

The book divides naturally into three parts: 1, The

general announcement of the pride which has prepared for Edom the retributive justice of God (verses 1-9); 2, Enumeration of the practices of Edom against the brother tribe, and repetition of the doom about to fall (verses 10-16); 3, The forecast of future salvation and glory for Zion, in which, though there is no mention of the Messiah, there breathes the same hope which no earthly grandeur could ever have satisfied, and which waits even yet for its entire fulfilment (verses 17-21).

It is to be remarked that Obadiah uses many words or forms of word peculiar to himself, so that even this short writing gives him an individuality. The style is vigorous, and there is one image (verse 4) of almost startling boldness, but the parallelism is too defective to allow the work to be classed with the poetical books. As a defect in style, the preponderance of interrogations may be noticed.

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1-9.-THE DIVINE HOSTILITY AGAINST EDOM PROCLAIMED.

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(1) The vision of Obadiah.-Properly, vision of Obadiah, without the article. There are three recognised headings to prophetical books-word, burden (i.e., oracle), and vision-and all are used without the article, and in a general way, for the contents of the books, without any intention to distinguish between different kinds or modes of prophecy. Thus Nahum combines burden and vision: Burden of Nineveh. Book of vision of Nahum the Elkoshite." Amos speaks of the "words which he saw ;" Isaiah (xiii. 1) of the "burden which he did see;" and Obadiah, after the word vision, instantly proceeds, " Thus saith," &c. The word vision (Heb., chazón, from the same verb as "seer"), appears, from 1 Sam. iii. 1, ix. 9, to have acquired this general sense at a very early time. It is not necessary from the use of the word to suppose that the future was unfolded to Obadiah "in the form of sights spread out before his mind, a succession of pictures which he may have seen (Pusey). Vision here revelation, however supplied. The question of authorship is discussed in the Excursus. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. -After these words we should expect the words of the message, not the statement that a message had come. Among the attempts at explanation, the two most plausible are: (1) The two-fold heading is due to a later hand than Obadiah, who only prefixed the first part, vision," &c., to his work; (2) These words are merely a mode of stating generally that the seer of the vision was divinely inspired. The view taken of the authorship and composition must decide between these two. If an earlier oracle is incorporated in the book, it is more natural to conclude that the second part of the double title, which in a slightly different form occurs also in Jer. xlix. 7, was introduced in order to bring the prophecy into closer similarity to the circle of oracles against foreign nations which is contained in Jeremiah.

Arise ye...-Now at length we have the Divine message. Long ago, in the mysterious oracle of Dumah (Isa. xxi. 11), the foreboding of a pending chastisement of Seir found a voice, and now, as in consequence of a signal from heaven, or as if brought by an angel, goes forth the summons to the nations to begin the movement against Edom. The cup of iniquity was full. There is a suggestiveness even in the vagueness of the summons. The nations, without distinction of good or bad, must become the instruments of the

the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. (2) Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised. (3) The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the

Divine chastisement of overweening pride. Edom becomes the type of wickedness that has reached a head, and against which all the sounder elements of the world unite with God. For the full picture, here suggested only in a word, see Isa. xiii. 1-17, and comp. Joel. ii. 11; Jer. li. 11.

(2-9) Edom's pride and consequent humiliation. A general statement of the reason of the Divine wrath against Edom. Particular offences will be enumerated presently (verses 10-14).

(2) Small among the heathen.-In comparison with the giant empires of Egypt and Assyria, a mere speck on the map. Edom proper is not to be confounded with the later kingdom of Idumæa, which extended over the wilderness of Et Tih, and even to within the southern borders of Palestine. The original Mount Seir (Gen. xxxii. 3), or, as our prophet calls it, Mount Esau, was a narrow tract of country on the east of Wady Arabah, extending from Elath to the brook Zered (probably the Wady-el-Ahsy; see Deut. ii. 8, 13, 14), about 100 miles in length, and nowhere more than twenty miles broad. One of the larger English counties would cover as much territory. In the corresponding passages (Jer. xlix. 15) our version has the future instead of the past, where also, instead of "greatly despised," is the reading, "despised among men." The past is better. The contrast between the size of the nation and its overbearing pride, created by the consciousness of the natural strength of its position, is lost if we give the verse a future sense.

(3) Clefts of the rock.--The word chagavím, clefts, is of doubtful derivation. It only occurs in the corresponding passage to this (Jer. xlix. 16) and in Cant. ii. 14, and always with selah-rock. But whether its etymological meaning be refuges or fissures does not matter, since the actual thing signified is still to be seen. The cliffs at Petra (Selah, or with the article, ha-Selah), the capital of Edom, and in its neighbourhood, are honeycombed with caves, natural or artificial, which from the earliest times to the present day have served as tombs for the dead, and temporary dwellings or shelters for the living. We read in Deut. ii. 12 that the "Horims"-i.e., troglodytes, or dwellers in caves— were the original inhabitants of the land. "The whole southern country of the Edomites," says St. Jerome, "from Eleutheropolis to Petra and Selah (which are the possessions of Esau), had minute dwellings (habitatiunculas) in caves; and on account of the oppressive heat of the sun, as being a southern province, had underground cottages." All more recent travellers confirm this. Robinson (ii. 529) speaks of" an innumerable multitude